Revival?

I’m going to give this blog another shot, because I like the concept of this blog and the activity of blogging. But, obviously, I haven’t been dedicated to it at all.

It’s been an interesting, full year.  Around the same time I began this blog, I started teaching philosophy classes at two of the community colleges in and around Chicago.  At the time, I was only teaching two classes (Ethics and Introduction to Philosophy), but because it was my maiden experience, the effort took up most of my free time. The spring brought a much heavier work load, teaching a total of six different classes, only one of which I had taught before (Ethics, and although I taught Intro both semesters, I had completely changed the course).  That semester was the most challenging thing I have ever done for a sustained period. There were times at that semester where I was barely holding on emotionally, let alone keeping up with the work. I did it, although I let the administrative duties of my position slip at times. There were days when the class itself suffered due to my over-exertion and stress. But I believe I was able to pull it all together and finished the semester strong in all classes. Overall, it was a success and a great learning experience: boot camp for philosophy teaching.

This summer has been relaxing: I taught one full course, Ethics, again. I also taught an independant study on the philosophy of religion.  This gave me the opportunity to spend a lot of time thinking about how to teach and the structure of the course, rather than constantly preparing for class. In other words, I was able to draw upon the experiences of the last year and my readings about education to do a little theory making of my own. And if there is one thing I love, it is philosophizing for the sake of utility: and in this case, I was philosophizing on philosophy and teaching. My love and understanding of the subject increased, I believe, and my students’ reaction to the subtle changes I made in the course were positive and encouraging.  

Classes ended three weeks ago, and since then I have been relaxing, withdrawing from society somewhat (somwhat), and exploring more of Chicago’s northside and northwest neighborhoods. Without much work to do, and with the satisfaction of knowing I have completed a year of good work, and am looking forward to another year of improved work (I aim), I have been perhaps in my best and healthiest mind set since moving to Chicago three years ago…

Independant studies are radically different than a standard course, although i may get this impression because of my emphasis on classroom discussion and and student led discussions: a feet that is impossible with a single student. Regardless, I was at the point of thinking that I ought never teach an independant study again: my teaching strengths seemed entirely impotent in that arena. However, I remember feeling that I was a poor and useless teacher in the standard course last fall and spring (at times), and yet after thinking and re-thinking, I found and made some effective changes.  I think in the future I could do the same thing with an independent study, although the disadvantage here is that I get so few opportunities to practice independent studies, whereas the standard course gives me an over-abundance of opportunity. It was the extreme demands that forced me into becoming a better teacher. I will likely never find myself in a position where there will be an extreme demand from the independent study quarter. (It also pays squat– one-tenth– in comparison to a standard course, and the standard course pay is already squat enough).   

In a few weeks, I will mark my first year as a philosophy teacher.  I have yet to start preparing for the new courses, but I plan on doing so soon. Again, I teach six courses. I anticipate this will be significantly easier because, A, five of the courses I’ve already taught, B, three of these courses are the Introduction to Philosophy, which, because of its more general and less technical nature, requires significantly less preparation per course, and one prep will cover three classes (this is not exactly true since I shape my course throughout the semester based on the direction of student participation, so the classes will likely diverge in the middle), and C, I know what to expect in terms of work load. However, there is one course that is going to challenge me, and, I predict, drive me to thinking once again that I suck as a teacher: This is a humanities course on cultural changes of the last 50 years, including music, cinema, visual art, philosophy, politics, television, theater, values, literature, etc. It’s wide open, and it will be a very different course from ones I have taught in the past.  However, I am also thrilled by the challenge and the lessons I will learn.

That’s all for now. I want to sit down sometime in the near future and do some thinking about this next semester so I don’t try to think with poor habits when the semester hits. Perhaps the ideal enivornment will be a bar with free internet.  Bucktown’s “Maproom” beer bar will be ideally suited for this.